It is the author’s responsibility to seek endorsements for their books and publishers expect you to get them. Blurbs – often only a few words from an endorsement from a high profile author, celebrity or expert – appear on a book’s cover or dust jacket flaps. Blurbs are used in letters to solicit book reviews, on tip sheets to booksellers, in marketing materials and press releases. Does the prospect of asking for blurbs make you cringe because it requires a level of narcissism you can’t quite muster into self-promotion? Remember, Narcissus is a gorgeous yellow spring blossom I hope to see soon in New York. The perennial flower takes its name from the Greek myth of the hunter renowned for his beauty who fell in love with his reflection in a pool of water and dies there unable to leave his own reflection. The moral of the story is it’s not about you, it’s about the book and asking for blurbs should be as easy as growing daffodils. Set the bulbs in the fall for spring blooms. If the book is your blossom, its up to you to plant, fertilize, weed, water, tend, and harvest the bounty of book blurbs. Endorsements add credibility to your work in the eyes of readers. If someone picks up your book and sees a blurb from an expert or author whom they already know, respect and trust, they are more likely to purchase it. Blurbs can be extremely beneficial to a debut author, a…
It is the author’s responsibility to seek endorsements for their books and publishers expect you to get them. Blurbs – often only a few words or phrase of praise from a high profile author, celebrity, or expert – appear on a book’s cover or dust jacket flaps. Blurbs are also used in query letters to agents, on tip sheets to booksellers, in marketing materials and… [Read More]
Filed Under: blurbs, book marketing, Charlie Rose, Ellen DeGeneres, Endorsements, Malcolm Gladwell, Oprah, Terry Gross
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A new year begins and it offers authors an opportunity to set calendar goals and prepare a budget for the coming year. Here are 10 things to help you in your business of being an author in 2016. 1) Prepare a list of business expenses you anticipate. Look over last year’s expenditures. Postage, webhosting, submission fees. Consider what new expenses you may require to achieve… [Read More]
Filed Under: Authors Guild, Budget, Calendar, Contact Relations Management, Expenses, Income, Password Protection
When writers come in for a massage, they rarely ask the therapist to focus on their legs. Understandably, it is the neck, back, and arms that usually feel the brunt of long hours working. But legs have some of the biggest muscles in our bodies. Most of us depend on them to get around: walking, climbing, playing sports, dancing, and supporting our upper body as… [Read More]
The last week of the year is a book orgy for me. No distractions. No interruptions. It is the time of year when I can indulge in reading works I have set aside because I know I am going to enjoy them. Some of these might have ended on my list to wrap up for 2015 if I hadn’t set them aside for my end-of-year reading… [Read More]
When I was a teenager, I was a little hurt when my mother commented that I was a daydreamer, as in “just a daydreamer.” Apparently I spent more time than my siblings sitting and staring off into space. If I were Catholic, I would carry a bit of guilt for daydreaming, but my mother gave me Buddhism, from which I learned that reflecting on things… [Read More]